Davidson jolts top-seeded Dayton

end of the regular season. After earning a close tournament win over Dayton, they hope that energy will carry over to Saturday.

“I thought [Friday] and [Thursday] were perfect examples of what we learned from the Dayton overtime loss and the Rhode Island overtime loss,” Davidson head coach Bob McKillop said. “We were in this same position last year. We had beaten La Salle and Bonaventure, emotional upset overtime games. So now we're almost in the same situation. Let's see if we have been able to learn from that and put that to good use.”

Other early game

Rhode Island entered its Friday game against St. Bonaventure knowing it had an advantage down low. It exploited that advantage throughout the game, and it resulted in a comfortable win for the Rams.

No. 4 Rhode Island defeated the No. 5-seeded Bonnies, 74-63, to advance to a quarterfinal match against Davidson. Junior guard E.C. Matthews scored 20 points for Rhode Island, and senior forward Hassan Martin added 19 points and eight rebounds. Junior guard Jaylen Adams led the Bonnies with 18 points.

Rhode Island did much of its damage in the paint, outscoring the Bonnies, 38-20, down low. It helped the Rams shoot 56 percent from the floor. They held St. Bonaventure to 39 percent.

“Just the key was just to be real physical down low and use our depth to an advantage, and just really rebound and defend like we've been doing these past games, and we've been really successful,” Martin said. “That's about it.”

St. Bonaventure overcame a six-point halftime deficit to tie the game at 34 early in the second half, but a Rhode Island run pushed the lead back to double digits, 54-43, with 10:29 to play. The Rams would lead by double digits for the rest of the game.

“We were in this same position last year. We had beaten La Salle and Bonaventure, emotional upset overtime game. So now we're almost in the same situation. Let's see if we have been able to learn from that and put that to good use as we prepare for whoever we play tomorrow.” — Bob McKillop, Davidson coach

Rhode Island’s Kuran Iverson blocks the shot of St. Bonaventure’s Jaylen Adams in the second half of an Atlantic 10 tournament game Friday at PPG Paints Arena.